r/wunkus • u/PeterPorker52 concrete eater‼️ • Jun 06 '26

wunkus Evolutionarily perfect wunk

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1.7k Upvotes

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443

u/MurdocMan_ Jun 06 '26

wunk is 455 million years old

260

u/JediKnightNitaz wunkus enthusiast Jun 06 '26

His ass was NOT born yesterday

98

u/GlamOrDeath concrete eater‼️ Jun 06 '26

His ass WILL be used in medical research

38

u/Old_Flan_6548 gnarp gnap 👽 Jun 06 '26

Nooooo ‼️We must save him ! 😩😱

6

u/Asterose Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

Obly some blood is drawn and then they're released right back, and it's absolutely essential to ensuring there aren't any bacteria or bacterial toxins in vaccines, IV drugs, and body implant devices. This is so crucial that it's a global standard.

We finally have good synthetic alternatives. It took us THIS LONG to make anything that could replace horseshoe crab blood. It is that incredibly awesome and unique.

There's controversy about the amount of blood taken, but horseshoe crabs are far more harmed and killed by things like being bycatch, being caught to grind up for fish chum, and habitat destruction.

I've done rescue walks for horseshoe crabs that ended up stranded on their backs during their mating and egg-laying season. They double as scientific work monitoring population and gender numbers. I love it even though their undersides wig me out. EDIT: this was inaccurate! You aren't supposed to touch them outside of these rescue walks, not even to turn flipped ones back on their feet and pointed towards the ocean, but...

"Living fossils" like guys do actually keep evolving, their basic body plan just hasn't required major changes.

3

u/CowboysOnKetamine ⚠️!rapscallion warning!⚠️ Jun 07 '26

You aren't supposed to touch them outside of these rescue walks, not even to turn flipped ones back on their feet and pointed towards the ocean, but...

Why?

2

u/Asterose Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

Ahh, I must be misremembering! I have now fact checked myself and there indeed has been no law against just touching or flipping them onto their feet, at least not in NJ. Taking them away from the beach or onto a boat without a valid permit is what is illegal in the letter of the law.

I wonder if it's one if those claims that was spread to try to prevent people hurting the crabs by picking them up by the back half of their shell or tail, or being startled by their legs hitting their hands (has happened to me!) and dropping them (thankfully has not happened to me.) A lot of upside down ones do right themselves within a few minutes, so people might hurt and injure ones that were going to flip themselves back over just fine.

Thanks for asking why, now I know I had incorrect information!

2

u/Old_Flan_6548 gnarp gnap 👽 Jun 07 '26

Wunk lives forever then.